Photos WW2 British & Commonwealth Forces

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Abandoned 1st Canadian Army M4. Note the anti-panzerfaust side skirts fashioned from fencing wire.

 

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ieutenant General Wilhelm Daser, commander of the German 70th division, leaving the German headquarters after surrendering Middleburg to the British Army, Netherlands, November 08, 1944.

 

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1941, North Africa. The crew from a Matilda tank taking a break during the fighting near Tobruk.
Ref: RGPoulussen

 

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Personnel of No.2 Provost Company, Canadian Provost Corps (C.P.C.), on Norton 16H motorcycles, talking with French civilians, Fleury-sur-Orne, France, 20 July 1944.

 

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Privates A Jones and Renwick of the Durham Light Infantry operate a radio and keep watch for the enemy, near Douet, 11 June 1944.

 

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WWII. Bougainville Campaign. 30 March 1945. 2/4th Australian Armoured Regiment Matilda tanks advance along Buin Road over Slater's Knoll, towards the Hongorai River. They are supported by 25th Infantry Battalion troops and a bulldozer. This is the first time tanks have been used in the Bougainville campaign.

 

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After being captured on the beaches of Dunkirk and spending 5 years in captivity, Sergeant Edward Hill of the British Army is released from Dulag-Luft prisoner of war camp, March 29, 1945.

 

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THE BRITISH ARMY IN BURMA 1945.
A Bren gun carrier fitted with empty oil drums as a flotation device after crossing the Mu River on the way to Mandalay, February 1945.
Creator: Watson R (Sgt), No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit.
Source: © IWM SE 2053

 

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Lockheed Hudson aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force returning from convoy patrol over the Atlantic Ocean. 1941
https://amzn.to/2L0ogU5

 

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Flight Lieutenant Duncan Grant of No. 400 Squadron, RCAF in the cockpit of his P-51 Mustang.
https://amzn.to/3qrQqXY

 

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Italy's transport infra-structure was severely damaged during the Italian campaign.
It took a double-whammy in that the retreating Germans destroyed what they could in their wake to slow down the Allied advance.
But the Allies too...particulary their Tactical Air Forces...pummelled the roads and bridges to hamper the German retreat northwards and to prevent the flow of men and materiel to the ever-changing front lines.
Here a Sherman tank of the 6th South African Armoured Division / Eighth Army, advances through what was once the archway of a railway bridge, June 1944.
(IWM)

 

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No...this British soldier is not sweeping the leaves off the General's lawn!
He is in fact, testing a German mine-detector captured during the fighting in the Anzio area, circa 1944.
This unusual piece of equipment worked on the "pram" principle.
The search coil was housed in the "blade" ahead of the small rubber-rimmed wheels.
Mounted at the rear was a reservoir which contained white marker-paint.
The operator wears headphones and carries a battery pack and the amplifier on his back.
The back-pack containing the above is a modification of the standard Tornister infantry pack with its distinctive calf-skin or horse-hide covered flap.
The operator pushed the device slowly ahead of himself and the magnetic field of any mines detected set off a signal which was transmitted back to the earphones via the handlebars.
The white paint dribbled slowly out of its reservoir, thus creating a "safe" lane for those following behind.
The equipment was being demonstrated by Army Quartermaster Sergeant Raspin.
The phorographs were taken by Captain Alan Whicker of the AFPU.
(IWM)

 

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James Francis "Stocky" Edwards, is Canada's highest scoring ace in the Western Desert Campaign.
During the 14 months that Edwards would serve with 94 Squadron and 260 Squadron in the Western Desert and Tunisia, he would fly all three types of Kittyhawk in combat and come to know them well.
They were a handful, he recalls that "only with the Mk.III , did the Kittyhawk became a good, stable fighting aircraft although it never did have enough power or climbing ability compared to the Me.109s or Spitfires"
And on its armament he said "All Kittyhawks I flew had 6 x .50 guns, excellent for strafing or blowing up a target. However, one very annoying feature was the gun stoppages in the desert. In ground strafing one could count on firing all the ammo without problems, but when it came to dog-fighting and excessive `G' forces came into play, the guns most always packed up after a few bursts, leaving the fighter in a most perilous position. The 109s never appeared to have any problems with the nose cannon - that big gaping hole in the centre of a white spinner with black puffs of smoke emitting from it"
He looks to have underclaimed as German records confirm - 22 victories but many who flew with him have said that he only reported those he was certain of.
His victories included Otto Schulz and Günter Steinhausen both aces, and on
3 September 1942 Edwards likely damaged Hans-Joachim Marseille's Bf 109 in combat. Marseille was the highest scoring pilot in North Africa and one of the -greatest- fighter pilots of ww2.
By the war’s end, Stocky Edwards had flown an incredible 373 combat missions, without being shot down himself. Eighteen of Edwards' 19 "official" victories were against enemy fighters 14 being Me. 109s and when your flying an "in general" inferior machine to your adversary that's quite an achievement.
The photo's show him on arrival in early 42. Photo's have captions.


This shot was taken in March 1942, when Edwards, age 20, had just arrived in the desert.
Source James Edwards collection.

 

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Slugging it out!
A couple of British tankies burn off a little energy during a lull in the fighting on Sicily, July 1943, watched by their mates from the vantage point of their Sherman.
Indulging in the fisticuffs were troopers Rouse and Creese.
(IWM)

 

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The US landings on the Philippines island of Leyte in October 1944 were generally successful.
However, a powerful typhoon struck the island in early November dumping on it enormous quatities of rainwater which quickly turned the unmetalled roads into quagmires which in turn impeded the advance of the US forces.
These images graphically illustrate the difficult conditions encountered by wheeled transport during that period, which was tough on both men and machines.
(LIFE / Mydans)

 

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TANKS AND ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES OF THE BRITISH ARMY 1939-45.
Valentine III DD (Duplex Drive) tanks aboard a landing craft.
Part of: SPECIALISED ARMOUR DEVELOPMENT ESTABLISHMENT.
Source: © IWM MH 2215

 

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Middle East, N Africa Campaign.
Fitters uncrate the fuselage section of a Curtiss Tomahawk Mark IIB for assembly at No. 107 Maintenance Unit, Kasfareet, Egypt.
Creator
Royal Air Force official photographer.
© IWM CM 1095

 

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British Army Sherman silhouetted against the sunset on Sicily, August 1st, 1943.
The tank was from 'A' Squadron, 50th Royal Tank Regiment.
(IWM)